Ecclestone 'bribed' team bosses with $10m

Bernie Ecclestone has admitted payments were made to three team bosses in the late 1990's to ensure they signed up to the 1998 Concorde Agreement.

The 82-year-old, who is currently embroiled in a larger bribery case involving jailed banker Gerhard Gribkowsky, is currently in court to face other charges surrounding the sale of Formula 1 to CVC Capital Partners.

During the hearing, it came to light that a company called Vulper Holdings, part of Ecclestone's Bambino Trust, made three payments of £6 million ($10m) to Eddie Jordan, Alain Prost and Tom Wilkinshaw.

Ecclestone denies he made the payments personally, despite claims from a lawyer, though he admitted they were made to persuade those teams to sign the Concorde Agreement.

"The right person to speak to is the person that was dealing with this, because I don't know whatever it is and didn't have anything to do with it," he said.

"However, I know these teams had $10m each," he added.

However Constantin Medien's lawyer probed further.

"They were paid to ensure that their teams did sign. Isn't that right?"

Contact Details

Legal Information

Motorsport Week is not affiliated with Formula 1, Formula One Management, Formula One Administration, Formula One Licensing BV or any other subsidiary associated with the official Formula One governing organisations or their shareholders. Official Formula One information can be found at www.formula1.com. (F1, FORMULA ONE, FORMULA 1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GRAND PRIX and related marks are trade marks of Formula One Licensing B.V.)